Count down... 2 weeks!

The wireless is working at the Thies training center again and it feels liberating to easily connect with the world! The last two days have been our Counterpart Workshop where our village partners--one male and one female chosen by the community to work with us--come to the Training Center for orientation/sensitization. It's been exhausting for all parties involved but there has been a lot of good information transfer, in at least 5 languages. I only have one Counterpart at the moment because the other one is in Guinea Bissau for an undetermined amount of time. My female counterpart's name is Hawa Jamanka. She is very excited to have a female volunteer and says there's a lot of work in the village. The last two volunteers have been male and it should be an interesting challenge to navigate my way. I found out today that I will install to my permanent site on November 10th; yep, it's about to get really real.

In response to Taylor's detail requests:

Which is hotter: concrete furnace or mud hut kiln?

It is MUCH hotter in the concrete room and tin roof. I'm sure it's quite similar to what you experienced in Thailand, Taylor. The mud hut with a thatched roof tends to be cooler--in comparison--but it can still be unavoidably, and yes, oppressively hot. I'm so happy to have a thatched roof hut because it has impressive character. Some of the character though is that the rain leaks through in the rainy season. If you would like to enter my front hut door, you'd have to double over to crouch under the roof and swing in. The back door is straight across from the front and opens into my backyard douche (a concrete hole for a bathroom). My backyard is very shaded though and I have some space to garden. The first thing I'm going to do once I install: set up my hammock and choose sleeping option #OUTSIDE. I'm hoping to sleep outside for most of the next two years, inshallah (which means, God willing). Senegal is Islamic, for those of you that don't know. I'll be reflecting more on that in later posts but feel free to ask questions!

Photos?

Yeah, I know. I personally cannot believe I'm not taking pictures. They will come, I promise. Why am I not excitedly taking pictures? Because it's a big deal to have a camera out and I haven't felt like being even more the center of attention than I already am. It'll all be easier once I settle in and people get more used to me being around. I mean, I've got TWO YEARS :)

Pulaar Lesson #1:

A jarama = Hello/Goodbye/Thank You

Di wuuli buy= It's really hot!

Mi owli buy nannde woo nannde = I sweat a lot everyday.

Greeting is a big deal here so there's a slew of phrases for greeting at different times of day. Most greetings will be from more than one language. But the response is always some form of JAM TAN (which means, peace only).

Other updating:

I've only got two weeks left of Pre-Service Training!!! Those exclamation points are as much panic as excitement. I'm anxious about installing into my permanent site but it will be nice to settle in and figure out how to make it home. I know I still have months of transitioning, training, and language acquisition though before I even start feeling like I'm settled. One day at a time.

Animal Encounters...

-I slept with a chicken in my room the other night (on accident)--oops!

-When trying to chase the second lizard out of my room with the help of my host brother, we clipped the tail off with the broken handle of rake--oops again! FYI, the tail continues to move for quite some time after dismemberment.

-In the darkness of my concrete room with only my headlamp as a search light, I chased a mouse out (with my weapon of choice, a broken handle of a rake). I followed it out of my room and realized that I not only looked crazy to my host family but I also am out for blood. However, it's only the blood of things that can burrow and destroy my things or eat my seed. I'll have you know that I live quite happily with at least 10 beautiful wall spiders.

-There is a herd of camels down the road in the neighboring village.... named Iraq.

Peace Corps Joke:

So, there's a Pessimist, Optimist, and a Peace Corps Volunteer sitting at a bar. In front of them, there's a glass of water.

The Pessimist says, "That glass is definitely half empty."

The Optimist says, "It's obviously half full!"

The Peace Corps Volunteer says, "I could shower with that."

A la prochain (until next time)

!